4 May 2017
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is delighted to learn that one of our local partners, the Dunya Women’s Cancer Centre in Ramallah, the West Bank, has been awarded the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Prize for Women’s Contribution to Development.
The Dunya Centre is the only clinic in the West Bank to specialise in gynaecological and breast cancer, and aims both to increase survival rates through early detectionand ensure women are supported on their journeys to recovery. With MAP’s support, the centre is able to offer specialised cancer diagnostic facilities like ultrasound and mammography, plus holistic care services like physiotherapy, psychological counselling and survivor support groups.
The Centre has been instrumental in raising awareness of breast cancer across the West Bank through its outreach services. Each October – for Breast Cancer Awareness Month – it runs a range of activities including advertisements, discussion groups and concerts to encourage women to talk about their health and better understand the disease.
MAP's CEO, who visited the centre this week, said "The Dunya Centre is doing really essential work and this award is very much deserved."
The IDB announced in a press release that the Dunya Centre was being awarded the prize “for its outstanding work in providing screening, early detection, rehabilitation, survivorship services and information, and for extending its services to families of affected women.”
These services are particularly important in for Palestinian women living under occupation, due to the significant challenges women with cancer face accessing continuous and effective medical care due to restrictions of movement and shortcomings of the local health system. You can read more about these issues in MAP’s breast cancer fact sheet and infographic.
The prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, later this month.
